Ascensioni in The Royal Arches come Retreat

We got off route!!!

adventurous but brief: got a few droplets while Shane led p1; agreed to go until we got rained off. low crack transfer on p2 looked vegetated so i spent a while contemplating the big committing slab traverse higher up, not liking the friction or potential swing (or invert if i stepped on the sling). thankfully the weather escalated before i had to wuss out. the granite was soaked before i started lowering, and we were getting lashed with hailstones by the time i was at the belay.

getting off was the priority so i started the rap down p1 without looking at the topo. tried to think heavy thoughts as i sorted out the rope; kept going given the thunderstorm and knowing i had a full rack. turns out a 70m won't get you to the ground from p1 anchors but will get you to pinscars ~3m up where a #.75 and #.1 will hold even submerged in a minor waterfall, which will get you off the rope to work out next steps. not necessarily saying my decisions were good but they were deliberate and (quickly) considered, with risks and contingencies in mind

World record! Most bails in a single day. Let me explain my rationale. The night before, tony and i had poured through the guide to decide on the ultimate 'big day'. We had decided to wake up at 530. Unbeknownst to us, this would serve perfectly to maximize bail opportunities. Tony even was ready on time in the morning. We started up royal and after i lost the route and accidentally simul climbed off route into a 10+ roof traverse, we got back on track only to see the rest of the actual route covered by a turbulent waterfall. To be fair, we had actually been told about this, but we thought it would be a 'japanese trad waterfall'. We retreated, and also let the opportunity to link into crest jewel via the hiking summit go to the wayside. 2 bails and its not even 10am. Luckily astroman goes into shade at 1030! Unluckily we forgot to borrow dylans rps. 3 bails. Drove to el cap for south by south west. Left the car, realised it faces south or south west or some combination there of and would be copping intense sun. East buttress was consulted but yosar was doing rescue training. 5 bails down, we spied the moratorium. Known for seasonal wetness on the last pitch, we were ready to climb wet 11b just to get something done. After 1 (albeit incredible and varied corner) pitch, i brought tony up. He gingerly clipped in and told me that he had shat his pants and needed to go down. We sat on this el cap standard belay ledge admiring the beautiful day that had somehow forced 6 multi pitch bails on us in the space of 9 hours. We went back to the camp 4 toilets so i could bash the mirror with my head and tony could bash the toilet with his insides.